In Search of an Incomplete ？adīth Commentary: Ibn al-？alā？’s ？iyānat ？a？ī？ Muslim and its Significance

This article focuses on an unfinished commentary by Ibn al-？alā？ (d. 643/1245) entitled ？iyānat ？a？ī？ Muslim. The study will attempt to give detailed information about this unfinished commentary with regards to its author, history and social context. The ？iyāna is recognized as one of the most significant works produced on Muslim b. al-？ajjāj’s (d. 261/875) al-Musnad al-？a？ī？ in the history of Islam. Providing information on such important issues as al-？a？ī？’s composition, content, and history of transmission, the ？iyāna explains and elucidates on 157 ？adīths from the beginning of the book. Despite its importance, ？iyāna has not been studied in-depth within contemporary academic literature. One may even notice, particularly in the Turkish ？adīth literature, uncertainty regarding its genre and where this book truly fits. This article asserts that ？iyāna is indeed an incomplete commentary on al-？a？ī？, and identifies its characteristics as well as discussing its impact upon later ？adīth commentaries. In addition to providing valuable information on al-？a？ī？, the ？iyāna is also distinguished for its comparisons between several manuscripts of al-？a？ī？, and its critical treatment of early commentators’ views. Furthermore, a sizable content is devoted to identifying the correct reading of the transmitters’ names and other Arabic terms. Having received a warm reception from the ？adīth scholars, the ？iyāna has been an authoritative text on al-？a？ī？, particularly for ？adīth commentators, including scholars such as Mu？yī al-Dīn al-Nawawī (d. 676/1277) and Mu？ammad b. ？Alī al-Wallawī. The commentators made use of the ？iyāna in two distinctive ways. First, they relied heavily on the ？iyāna in their introductions to commentaries, where they were expected to provide information on their base-text ？ i.e. al-？a？ī？. Among issues raised in these introductions are the transmission of al-？a？ī？, its composition and chapter headings, and the epistemological value of its ？adīths. Second, the commentators employed the ？iyāna in their interpretation of individual ？adīths. However, since ？iyāna covered only 157 ？adīths from the beginning of al-？a？ī？, such references to the book are found only in the first few volumes of these commentaries. In order to contextually study the ？iyāna, the article focuses on Ibn al-？alā？’s interest in the ？adīth collections. Due to his long journey to the Khurāsān region, Ibn al-？alā？ was able to accumulate a considerable amount of knowledge on the ？adīth collections, including works such as al-？a？ī？ayn and Sunan al-Bayhaqī. During his journey, he